Fiber connectors are optical interconnection devices that are used to optically connect a first optical fiber to a second optical fiber, or a first set (array) of optical fibers to a second set (array) of optical fibers. Such fiber connectors are sometimes called fiber-to-fiber connectors. The optical fibers are typically carried by optical fiber cables (“cables”). Cables that carry multiple optical fibers are called multifiber cables. Cables where the optical fibers are carried in rows and which are relatively flat are called fiber ribbon cables or just “ribbon cables.”
Fiber connectors can also be used to optically connect an array of optical fibers carried by a multifiber cable to an array of optical waveguides of a planar light circuit (PLC) or an integrated photonic device such as a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). Such fiber connectors are sometimes called fiber-to-chip connectors.
Because optical fibers have relatively small core diameters, e.g., on the order of 10 microns for single mode fibers, fiber-to-fiber connectors and fiber-to-chip connectors need to establish alignment with their counterpart, connector or waveguide connector to submicron accuracy. Fiber connectors configured to connect multiple optical fibers such as carried by a multifiber connector are referred to as multifiber connectors.
The conventional approach to achieving alignment of an array of optical fibers in a multifiber connector is to use a V-groove substrate machined from flat glass. Unfortunately, fabricating V-groove substrates is time consuming and requires the use of expensive machine tools. As it is anticipated that multifiber connectors will find increasing use for a variety of applications that would benefit from leveraging the data-carrying capacity of multifiber cables, there is a need for low-cost manufacturing solutions for forming multifiber connectors that can still provide the required alignment precision when making optical interconnections between arrays of optical fibers or between an array of optical fibers and an array of waveguides of a PLC or PIC.